Author: Mary Delach Leonard
If you love St. Louis and the history of this town, this book is for you. If you are ambivalent toward St. Louis, but love zoos, this book is for you. If you don't care about St. Louis or zoos, but care about me, read this book.
Mary Delach Leonard, a past feature writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has done a magnificent job of telling the story of what is often rated as the best zoo in the world, the Saint Louis Zoo. When I got the book from the St. Louis County Library, I did not have time to read it right then, so I handed it off to my 86-year-old mother, who has lived in St. Louis her whole life. The book captivated her, and when I was finally able to pry it from her hands, I was captivated as well.
In this book you will find story after story about the earlier days at the zoo. The author brings you up to the present day with text boxes of interesting "then and now" statistics. One that demonstrates our changing times shows items most often left at the zoo in 1932 compared to today's lost and found. Take a guess.
Did you know that the zoo's first elephant, Miss Jim, was purchased through the donation of 238,400 pennies collected by the city school children? Do you know why, in 1910, the zoo's financial backers refused to purchase what would have been the first camel for the zoo? Did you know that in all of North America you can only find the horned guan, an endangered bird, at the Saint Louis Zoo? Do you remember the story of the spitting cobra that escaped from his cage and prompted a 40-day city-wide search?
Sharing this book with my mother was really special to me because she remembered so many of the stories from the earlier days. In fact, my maternal grandmother worked for a sewing company in downtown St. Louis. The sewers were scheduled to start work on the outfits for the zoo's monkey show when World War II began and the sewing company's plans were redirected.
Containing beautiful photos and many older photos that have never been published before, this book is a treasure.
(The St. Louis County Library system has thirty copies available for checkout.)
3 comments:
"One that demonstrates our changing times shows items most often left at the zoo in 1932 compared to today's lost and found. Take a guess."
1932 - Cigarette cases
2010 - cell phones
How'd I do?
Pretty good, Lori. Here are the items:
1932 - hats, umbrellas, pocketbooks, cigar cases (close enough!), and cameras
Present - cameras, cell phones, and car keys
I have an idea why headgear is mentioned in 1932 and not present. Why do you think it's not on today's lost and found list?
Now, what do you think was the most unusual item in the zoo lost and found?
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